


for once, the brick-thrower isn't steph

by Acin_Grayson



Series: Batfam Week 2020 [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Batfam Week 2020, Dragons, Gen, Metahumans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acin_Grayson/pseuds/Acin_Grayson
Summary: Someone has been following Stephanie on patrol, she's positive. She just needs to catch them.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne
Series: Batfam Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657879
Comments: 6
Kudos: 98





	for once, the brick-thrower isn't steph

**Author's Note:**

> https://official-batfam-week.tumblr.com/post/189786736709/the-prompts-are-in-thank-you-to-everyone-that
> 
> Day 1: **Overprotectiveness** | Meeting the Justice League | **Meta-Human AU**
> 
> I'm having a lot of fun with this!!! I really hope I can keep up with the rest of the week [fingers crossed]

With a near-silent  _ thump _ , Stephanie landed on the pavement.

The shadows were almost alive, seeming to chew at the edges of her cape. Four street lights had been lost to the shootout that ended just moments earlier, leaving the alleyway even darker than normal.

Someone, during that firefight, had thrown a brick at a goon who Steph had  _ definitely known was there, _ thereby preemptively saving her from a gunshot she  _ totally would have dodged _ .

Steph had seen them duck into this alley, she’d swear on it.

A loaded clothesline obscured her view. Knowing that a likely-frightened possible-civilian could be lurking behind the thin wall of cotton, she crept forward slowly.

Then froze when the device in her ear crackled. “Steph, kiddo, you ready for movie night?”

“ _ Codenames, _ Nightwing. But he’s right, we should be heading back.”

“Re- _ lax _ , B. We got the best hacker on the planet guarding our lines.” Steph says, and smiles when she hears Babs snort. “I just gotta check something.”

Whoever had thrown that brick had saved her life, and she was  _ going _ to find them.

Steph  _ burst  _ past the sheets and shirts, crowing her victory-

Only to spot a smoke-grey cat, much too small to be the brick-thrower. And also lacking thumbs.

“Oh. Just you.” The cat  _ mrrows _ indignantly at her. “I saw something,” she mutters, “I  _ swear _ .”

“I’m sure you did,” Batman murmured, amusement clear even through the communicator. “It’s time to turn in.”

“Mock me at your  _ peril _ , masked man!” Her tone was playful, despite the confrontational word choice.

With a heavy sigh, but no backward glance, the third Robin left the alleyway and climbed onto her bike.

Slipping out from the shadows beneath a gargoyle, a brick-thrower snatched up his camera bag and turned homeward.

For the night, Tim’s work was done.

* * *

Someone was  _ following _ them. She was  _ sure  _ of it.

She’d felt eyes on her back through their whole patrol.

“Robin, pay attention.”

“I  _ told  _ you, old man, I’m trying to spot our creep!”

B  _ looked _ at her, pressing his lips into a thin line, before sighing. “ _ He _ said he felt someone too.” Steph knows who he’s talking about, and feels a little honored that B even  _ mentioned  _ her predecessor. On patrol, even!. She knows he doesn’t like to.

Also,  _ Jason  _ thought he’d felt a watcher too?

“Really, how often?”

B  _ grunted _ .

Yeah, that was about as much of an answer as she was going to get.

Patrol continued mostly as-normal, but she caught him subtly scanning the shadows near as often as she was.

* * *

The second time she followed a smallish-person-shape only to have cornered a cat, Steph reached a  _ genius  _ conclusion.

“It’s a shapeshifter, of  _ course _ !”

Batman grunted, effortlessly lifting his wayward partner by the cape and dropping her into the batmobile’s passenger seat.

Boy-shaped once more, their watcher fled.

* * *

It went on like this for another  _ month, _ before-

“There it is again!”

“ _ Robin! _ ”

Heedless of Batman’s reprimand, Steph  _ dove _ .

In response, the inhuman shadow-shape  _ bolted _ , weaving its way around obstacles Steph struggled to dodge.

The chase seemed to last forever, Steph keeping up only out of a sheer, furious determination that any Green Lantern would  _ weep  _ to face.

That is, until she tripped on some weird lump and tumbled down towards the sidewalk. She hit the building’s fire escape twice, and slammed straight through the plastic lid of a dumpster.

That was going to fucking  _ hurt. _

It took her a good moment (or twenty) of gathering herself in order to slither miserably onto the pavement.

And of course,  _ just her luck _ , there were a bunch of goon-types heading in her direction.

“Well, well, lookie here boys. We got ourselves a wonder girl.” Ugh.

“It’s girl wonder,  _ morons _ , and you don’t ‘got’ anything.” The bravado was false- she was injured, badly, and Batman had fallen behind at  _ least  _ four blocks ago.

A dark shape swept over the alleyway, making all but two of the goons flee, cursing the Bat as they went.

Oh. Maybe B  _ hadn’t  _ fallen behind, after all.

Then she  _ looks _ -

The black-shrouded figure crouching on the fire escape was _ not in any way human _ .

“Holy shit,” she breathed, as the remaining thugs raised firearms to point at the frankly  _ terrifying  _ creature.

“Robin,  _ report! _ ” B snaps over the comm, but Steph can’t bring herself to answer.

It had a long, black snout filled with jagged, white teeth. Its neck, serpentine, curved down to a mass of shadowy body, which balanced compactly on the metal railing of the stairs. It had wings-  _ massive bat wings _ -spread and seeming to block all light entering the alleyway.

Those teeth seemed to flash as the beast snarled, and then  _ boomed- _

“ **MINE!** ”

The thugs wisely fled.

And then it was looking at  _ her. _

What came out of her mouth was not an  _ ‘eep’. _

The creature moved smoothly, silent, like it really was a mass of shadow rather than a living thing.

Steph was a little awed, underneath all the terrified.

It stopped a little away from her,  _ staring. _

“Uhm… hi?”

The neck  _ stretched _ and now Steph was holding her breath as that mouth full of teeth got  _ closer-  _ A black nose was gingerly sniffing at her leg, where a shard of dumpster plastic had made a definitely-going-to-need-stitches gash.

“ **Hurt.”**

“Get  _ away  _ from her!” B roared, swinging in from nowhere and slamming full force into what Steph was just now acknowledging was a  _ dragon _ .

A dragon who  _ talked _ .

“Wait!”

B still stood between them, poised to strike, but he paused.

The dragon didn’t lunge at them, but still glowered. Presumably because Batman had just been kicking all willy-nilly, Steph would be kinda mad about that too.

And yeah. Looking at the dragon now, they weren’t all that big. At least their body wasn’t. The wings, stretched out, were still massive, but the body probably wasn't any bigger than a German Shepherd.

Steph wiggled, trying to sit up better, and B hissed out a ‘ _ Robin _ ’ but she ignored him.

“You  _ talked. _ ”

The dragon’s attention turned back to her. B went  _ stiff _ .

“Yeah, you.” She grinned up at them. “You asked if I was hurt, and earlier you yelled-”

“ **Mine.** ”

“Yeah, that!”

“ _ Not _ yours.” B snapped, missing the point entirely. Their new dragon friend  _ hissed. _ “She is _not_ _ yours _ .” he reiterated.

And yeah, Steph could appreciate his assurance that no one owned her, because Steph definitely owned herself, thankyouverymuch, but now was not the time.

The dragon stepped forward again, pressing their nose right into B’s face, “ **Mine.** ”

Steph could see where this was going before the words moved through his clenched teeth.

“No, Robin is  _ mine. _ ” Ugh, macho bullshit. “Robin belongs with  _ Batman _ .”

The dragon snorted on him, sounding amused.

**Mine too.** ”

B puffed up, like an angry cat, she  _ swears  _ it.

The dragon appears to be immune to his posturing. “ **Gotham** ,” they say, “ **mine. My place.** **_Territory_ ** **.** ”

“Gotham is your  _ home _ .” Steph inserts.

“ **Yes,** ” the dragon hisses, sounding pleased. “ **I protect.** **_Mine_ ** **.** ”

Bruce growls, probably at having his turf stepped in, but Steph _ gets it _ . This isn’t a declaration of ownership, it's one for a prospective  _ partner _ .

The dragon protects Gotham,  _ they  _ protect Gotham. “We can protect our city, together. And we can protect each other.”

“ **Yes** .”

This is gonna be _so cool._

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear, the dragon is Tim: a dragon-human shapeshifter. He was not the cats, and Steph wasn't being serious when she suggested a shapeshifter. (Or was she? Bruce will never know.)
> 
> Somehow (wink wink) Steph ended up as the third Robin, rather than Tim, leaving him free to continue his Bat-stalking habit.
> 
> I honestly loved getting an excuse to write this AU down, and might _possibly_ be persuaded to add to it [shrug]


End file.
